My Own Little Survey

I wanted to get an opinion about whether or not people I knew liked or disliked online courses.  So, why not ask?!  I distributed a short poll asking basic questions about what people though about online learning.  Here are the results.

Vast majority of participants were between 18 and 28 years old, and comprised of 67% men and 33% women.  I distributed this survey to men and women equally, but it appears that the men were more likely to agree to the idea.  Perhaps that can be a study in it’s own?  Hahah.

Anyways, most were also enrolled at a university (73.33%). Grad school- 6.67%. And the amount of people not enrolled as a student was 20%.  Even though not all of them were enrolled in a type of learning setting, everyone had heard of online classes before.

54% of participants said they had taken online classes.  This was actually surprising to me because perhaps I had personally dismissed online learning as an option.  This was just based on my learning style, and I require an actual teacher present if I am likely to do well.  So it just didn’t occur to me that people would have the discipline to sit at a computer on their own and study.

I was interested in hearing how the participants were informed about the option of taking classes online.  One was required to take an online class for their job, called “continuing education” classes every 2 years.  The majority had heard about online courses through instructors and friends at a university, and while registering for classes.  Some were exposed to ads on the TV or computer.  As you can see, universities really take advantage of selling online courses, within the student body, and through commercial advertising.  One participant first heard of online classes used for continuing education at home for a class the student is already taking.  It’s more of a learning tool, rather than the only form of education the student is getting.

I also asked their opinion on whether or not online classes were “better” or “worse” than the traditional in-class setting.  The question was vague on purpose, because I wanted to get a reason as to why they chose the option they did.  Here are some of the results:

• “Online courses can offer a better education than traditional courses because it can be done by the student at his/her pace. If a student is motivated and can manage their time appropriately then an online course could provide a better education than traditional classes, because it removes the stress of scheduling conflicts, transport, and the daily/yearly expenses of attending a traditional class.”

•  “Though I have not taken an online course, I believe the live in-person interaction of teacher and student is CRITICAL to the most effective learning.”

• “I like them; you can go at your own pace. Although while testing the questions repeat themselves so it is easy to memorize the answers.”

•  “The classes being available nite or day makes it easier for working people to further their education. In addition,it enables students to increase their credit load. Only concern I would have is that the student is positively getting the information needed to be informed on the subject.”

•  “There’s nothing like the good old scratch of chalk on the chalkboard.”

•  “I feel like a lot of self-discipline would be necessary to succeed an online class.”

•  “You need teacher to student contact.”
•  “If there is some prize for this survey please enter me 10-15 times. Otherwise, what am even doing taking this survey.”

UK MOOC Infographic: “The Year of the MOOC”

Here’s an interesting infographic by the “Open Creative Communications” site on MOOCs in the UK and how they compare to traditional learning.  Enjoy!

College’s rejection of edX highlights potential drawbacks of massive online courses

So, I’ve been raving about certain MOOCs for a while now, but how about we examine the “flip side.” Why wouldn’t MOOCs be as good of an option for learners? Here’s an article initially posted by GigaOM on the issue.

Gigaom

For the past year, massive open online course (MOOC) providers, like Coursera,edX and Udacity, have been riding high. Indeed, as of Coursera’s first birthday, which is today, the startup says more than 3 million students have enrolled in a course and 62 top universities from around the world have signed on as partners. The MIT and Harvard-backed edX and Udacity have also been growing steadily, announcing high-profile new partnerships and expanded programs for for-credit online classes.

But this week, elite liberal arts college Amherst snubbed edX after months of courtship, highlighting concerns about how MOOCs could change higher education over the long term. The faculty wasn’t opposed to online education in general but approved a proposal for plotting its own path as opposed to joining edX, according to Inside Higher Ed.

A few of the faculty’s concerns were Amherst-specific, the news outlet said. For…

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Teachers Love Technology!

disrupt learning!

I really enjoyed this graphic, which originally appeared on OnlineUniversities.com, so wanted to share it with you all here. We’re making huge progress with technology in the classroom. Isn’t it awesome?

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A Closer Look at the Massive Open Online Course, “Astronomy: State of the Art”

I had a chance to go through the Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) called “Astronomy: State of the Art”.  It was created by the developers of the online learning tool, teachastronomy.com (see previous posts), and I have put together a little review where I will talk about several different aspects this online astronomy course has to offer.  Like my previous critique of Teach Astronomy, I’ll list a few main topics that I’ll cover before I dive in:

•  Course Home Page

• Course Overview

• Course Description

• Lectures

• Homework/Quizzes

• Live Session

Here we go:

 Course Home Page

So once I signed up for the course (which is free by the way), my first exposure to the course was the visual layout.  The course “home” was sleek, eye catching, and professional looking.  It was organized enough so it was obvious where you can find the lectures and the other course material.  It was nice to be able to take a look at the curriculum layout in advance, so you would know what to expect for the week to come.  The material is broken up into sections that will be covered over the course of a week, and subsections with relevant topics.  There are icons that allow the student to differentiate between the lecture “type.”  Lectures can either be video or text, and the majority of these specific lectures are videos, which I will go into more detail later.  There is also a large progress bar in the upper middle of the page, where the student can track their advancement and they develop through the duration of the course.  Personally, I really like this unnecessary item because it could give the participant a sense of accomplishment, which helps with motivation and the likelihood of them actually completing the course is higher.  I had learned in my “Learning in an Information Age” class that only about 10% of students who enroll in online courses actually finish them.  I can see this progress bar slightly raising that percentage, so we’ll see.  I’m not sure it’s specific to ASOTA, but it’s nice either way.  Also, there was a side bar that allowed for students to ask questions, and other students can also see the questions they ask.  That way many people can learn from one question, and they’re not all asking the same one.  When I logged on to the site the first question posted 30 mins ago read “0 answers.”  Within 15 minutes I came back again and Dr. Impey had answered it.  I was impressed with how quickly the student got an answer.  Sometimes online classes may take a while depending on whether or not the person on the other end is at the computer.  This means Dr. Impey is near-by and paying attention to his students.

Course Overview

The course overview and description were placed in a very convenient spot as far as location goes because they count as a “lecture,” though they are obviously not lectures.  It’s just the classification that Udemy gives this type of link to information.  It also gives some background on Dr. Chris Impey, the instructor of the course, and his qualifications as a teacher.  Another major point said in the overview is that the course is held at a “conceptually high level.”  I thought this was nice, because it gives a “heads up” to those who may know very little about astronomical concepts.  I’m glad that Dr. Impey chose to hold the course at a high level, because even if students didn’t know the concepts right away, it challenges them to think critically and analyze certain situations.  This skill is useful in many areas outside of astronomy, and they would be benefitting in more than one way.

Course Description

I was certainly impressed with the dimension this course has to offer.  The very first thing that caught my attention in the course description were the hash tags.  I thought to myself, “What? This is a twitter thing!” Astronomy: State of the Art is making an attempt to connect with its students in more than just a classroom setting.  Many people are current users of twitter, and other social networking sites, and it is very smart to integrate learning into the lives of the students in a non-linear fashion, but rather from all angles. You can connect to the course via twitter using the following tags: #ASOTAMOOC and #AstroMOOC.  I did, and I will post some of the tweets below.  The class is also utilizing Facebook, Google Plus, and a blogging site to interact with the students as much as possible by encouraging participation and responses as well as promote their site.  The social networking angle also is a more relaxed way to provide feedback, which is important for improving the quality of any online educational site.  It’s genius.

 

The course description also touches on the structure of the lectures, and how each major held on a week-to-week basis.  The reason for this is because this makes life easier for both the educators and the students.  If a student gets behind on a topic, they can easily catch up, while working around their own daily schedule.  Since the students can catch up more easily, the educators won’t have to spend time answering questions that aren’t even relevant to the current topic, and they can focus more on the present issues.  I also thought it was cool that there was a sidebar that allowed you to ask questions on the current page you were on.  Lastly, the description states that the educators are going to “use the course as a research platform to understand learning in online environments.”  This may just be the direction that general higher education is headed, so I am glad that there are people donating time to the advancement of astronomy education in particular.

Lectures

Next, I decided to dive in to the first lecture series, which is mainly on telescopes and methods of observing.  The main question to be answered was, “How do we learn about the universe?”  This is a very important question that needs addressed before going in to other space topics because without knowing the methods of collecting our data, astronomers would know none of the information the students are going to learn in the course.  The specific lecture that drew my interest was the one on gravity waves, because quite frankly, I know close to nothing about them or how to detect them, and I wanted to learn, so I was a beginner in that sense.  Indeed, I learned a lot that I didn’t know about gravity waves before reading the section, and I also was able to grasp information on how they can be detected using interferometry.  A major point that stood out in my mind (possibly because it matters more to me than the average person) was the issue of funding these detectors.  When Dr. Impey brought up the issue, it was not blatantly obvious that he was promoting funding and support from non-astronomers, but he did make a point as to how many amazing theories there are and not enough money allotted to us to test a great deal of them, no matter how important they may be.  I literally cheered out loud for him with a, “YEAH CHRIS!” and I hope that this get’s stuck in the minds of those willing to support finding for astronomy projects such as the ones he mentions.

Homework/Quizzes

There wasn’t too much homework posted on the site, but I anticipate that for each section there will be an assignment.  The one I did see was quite fun sounding.  It was simple- the students just had to share on Facebook or twitter their favorite astronomy-learning site.

There was one quiz available, and I assume more quizzes will be added as the course advances.  For fun, I decided to take the quiz and see how it works.  I found the quiz rather fun!  The questions were interesting and the last one was the one that really said if you “knew your stuff” because it combined a lot of information learned in the course.  I also smiled at how it mentioned how the federal agency funds telescopes.  The quiz provided good feedback to the student since it indicates the class average on each question along with your total score percentage.  I thought it was funny how the student can share your score on Facebook and Twitter.  Try doing that for a traditional college course!

Live Session

Decided to YouTube “Astronomy: State of the Art” and I got to view one of the live sessions Dr. Impey had with the attendees.  He was asked a variety of questions, and I was particularly impressed with his knowledge on a range of subjects from renewable energy to the Higgs Boson.  His answers were clearly spoken and understandable, and I learned a lot too.

Over all, this has been a pleasant experience, looking deeper into this MOOC.  For a first time “experiment,” I think it is very well put together and you can tell there is a lot of effort being put toward astronomy education and online learning.

If You’re Bored…

In light of my “Teach Astronomy” review I put together recently, I figured I’d share with you a nice surprise I received via email from Chris Impey.  It wasn’t sent specifically to me, but it was aimed at the entire department and it’s students.  Dr. Impey sent out a “Survey Monkey” asking for students’ opinions and experiences with their past scientific education (science major or not). It didn’t state explicitly that it was for “Teach Astronomy” or “Astronomy: State of the Art,” but I could definitely make connections between the survey material and what the course has to offer. I think it’s great that he and the other developers are making an effort to continually improve the education quality of astronomy and science in general.

Here’s the link in case you want to help out with something great:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Impey2013

100+ uses for the iPad in the classroom

I found it amusing the laptop computer is classified as “old school.”

bluesyemre

http://bit.ly/10xF1o9

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Teach Astronomy Review

      After my interview with Carmen, one of the contributors to Teach Astronomy, I decided to take a closer look at the website.  Since the site is meant for those who do not have a strong astronomy background (which I do), I tried to put myself in the position of someone who knows very little.  To briefly summarize the content of this blog post, I will list the categories in which I review the website (granted, I’m not a professional critic), and then go into more in the following paragraphs. 

 

• Main page
• Textbook
• Wiki
• Images
• Videos
• Podcasts

 

Main Page

In my opinion any site’s home page is extremely important because is what captures the users attention.  On the other hand the user may become uninterested depending on how the page looks at first.  The graphics are inviting, and draw me in to reading more about the actual material the website has to offer.  It also doesn’t have too much writing, which is good.  Personally, if I come across a page that has paragraphs of small text at first, I am much less likely to stay around and read the thing.  I recognize that’s extremely lazy, but unfortunately most people are.  When web developers design their home page, I’d bet money they take peoples’ unwillingness to read too much into account.  Since I last visited, there was something new added to the home page, which is their advertisement for their online course, “Astronomy: State of the Art,” which I will dive further into later. 

 

Textbook

I’d say the textbook is certainly a highlight of the site.  You can tell because it is one of the first tabs you can click, so naturally I ventured here first.  There were various sub-topics available in each category that was listed.  I can see someone being intimidated by this because the words can be so big, technical, and “sciency” (not to mention there are also a lot of them).  Have no fear though, because as Carmen said, there are words in red that give definitions when the user hovers their mouse over them.  If I didn’t know much about astronomy, then this would be extremely helpful, and I would use it quite a lot. 

To take an even closer look at the textbook, I chose a category that I honestly don’t’ know much about (who does, really?), though I find it intriguing nonetheless- black holes!   The text gave a very good explanation for someone who wants to learn more about black holes.  Some of the words may have been a bit difficult to understand, but the beauty of hosting a textbook online is that the user has the power to google the word in question very easily.  Also, the images embedded in the text are captivating.  Most people I talk to about astronomy enjoy the amazing images most of all.  You may think, “Images of black holes? Really?  But there’s more to black holes than meets the eye- literally.  There were some tabs on the side of the “page,” that didn’t really have a label as to what they were for, so I clicked on one and it ended closing the window.  Oops.  I can see somebody doing that on accident, and wishing they hadn’t. 

Like many textbooks I’ve come across, this one had homework problems at the end of each section.  They were easy to understand, but I didn’t attempt any of them (I mean seriously, why do homework when you don’t have to??).  I didn’t see any answers though, so I’m not sure how the student (or the teacher) would know if they were doing it right.  Perhaps the instructor can receive the answers upon request?  The textbook was overall, very nice though. 

 

Wikipedia

This part of the site was the most fun in my opinion.   The format they use is a “wikimap,” which allows you to choose a subject, and many other related subjects will be displayed around it like a web.   This way the user can understand how topics relate, as well as have a neat way about learning cool subjects in astronomy.  Of course I’m biased, but I can see myself using this wikimap like I do YouTube.  I will start one place, and then an hour later I will find myself somewhere completely different.  At least this way, there is some knowledge gained in the matter. 

 

Images

The images displayed in the appropriate tab are, of course, beautiful.  These can surely help spark the learner’s interest in certain objects they may want to learn more about.  Or, they can just browse through them on their spare time because they’re bored.  However, the ones I saw were no different than last time I was at the site, which was a few weeks ago.  They post pictures of APOD (Astronomy Picture of the Day), but I didn’t see the correct pictures…  That doesn’t mean that they’re not there, but if they are, they’re more difficult to find than they should be.  I could just go straight to APOD and see the image for myself then. 

 

Videos

I think this section may be the weakest part of the site since there is actually very little substance included in the videos as far as content goes.  They’re extremely short, and the only visual is Dr. Impey speaking.  The videos aren’t bad by any means, but I don’t see these as a primary source of learning information.  In my “Learning in an Information Age” class I’m currently taking, we learned that students recall information better when they are presented with visuals and audio simultaneously.  In this case, we’re basically just getting the audio, and I can see this posing a problem as to how well students retain information. The good news is that the videos they’re making for the new online class are much, much better and more informative.  I’m sure they will be posted and consequently provide a more beneficial learning tool to those who visit teachastronomy.com. 

 

Podcasts

I didn’t look as much into these because the site layout became so redundant that I didn’t really have the patience to look much further into these parts.  Plus, I couldn’t figure out how to get the podcasts to actually work…  Again, it could just be my lack of computer skills, or perhaps the developers have a bug to fix. 

Over all, I really enjoyed looking through this educational site.  I feel honored to have personal connections with the developers.  I will certainly promote their site to my non-astronomy friends, so they can learn how amazing astronomy actually is.  This site is certainly an amazing tool for educational purposes, and one thing I like most about it is it’s free.  Very soon I will look further into the MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) Dr. Impey is instructing.  So far I am very impressed as to how well it is put together.  More information coming soon!

Again, the link to the website is www.teachastronomy.com.  Feel free to stop by if you’re interested.  I’m sure the developers would love your feedback as well!

Teach Astronomy (.com)

My first real investigation of online leaning is of the site teachastronomy.com. 

I am lucky enough to personally know a developer of the educational site, so I arranged an interview I could obtain a better understanding of what the website is for and who its target audience is.  I’ve never personally been the “interviewer” before, so I asked my good friend Carmen Austin, who works on the project, to talk to me as if she was giving a poster presentation at a large conference, of which she has attended many.  Here we go!

Summarizing Carmen: Teach Astronomy is intended to act as a learning tool for those who want to learn more about astronomy.  The intended audience is for people who are in college or at a community college, but do not necessarily have to be astronomy majors.  However, anyone who needs an astronomy resource can use this site (such as informal learners of all ages or amateur astronomers) as it is free and available to anyone who wishes to expand their knowledge in the astronomical sciences.   Here are ways the site can be utilized in the classroom: I will begin by listing content, and then branching off into the categories and explaining them in further detail. I will label my thoughts in a different color to separate Carmen’s thoughts from my own.

Content:

• Free Textbook
• Wiki Articles
• Video Lecture Series
• Image Databases (APOD, Astopics)
• Podcasts

Texobook: Yes, I did say free. This tool is designed to supplement or even replace other textbooks with equally high quality teachings that cost money to obtain.  Teachers who use the site can assign readings from this online textbook.  Students and teachers alike may find these convenient because the readings are easy for the students to find.  The instructor can post direct links to the assigned pages through email, the class website, D2L (Desire 2 Learn), Black Board, or any other service.  Also, students may appreciate the fact that the textbook is no cost to them.  There are so many benefits to having a free online textbook because it supplies a tool for learning for those who do not have access or cannot afford educational reading material. The public library can provide internet for them to obtain the required information, so no one is denied the opportunity to learn because they could not afford it.  

 

Wiki Articles:  Many of the astronomy related articles on Wikipedia are gathered under one tab so the students have an easier way to access additional resources other than Teach Astronomy.  I know many teachers don’t support Wikipedia as a site for reliable information, but personally, I believe Wikipedia is one of the BEST sites because, sure, people can alter information on it and make it false, BUT BECAUSE, people can edit the articles, readers see wrong information and therefore CHANGE it to be correct.  So many people visit these articles per day, the chances of someone correcting wrong information is pretty high compared to someone visiting a private site and not being able to edit misleading info.  AND the number of “internet trolls” out to sabotage this site (I’m guessing) is much less than those who want to learn and improve it). 

Video Lecture Series:  There are a series of video playlists that provide even more information on various astronomical subjects.  The video recordings of Chrisy Impey, author of the textbook, are are broken down into certain topics labeled by the general topic presented in the videos.  Students can also access these through a visible tab on the main page. 

Image Databases:  For those who are interested in browsing really cool images of astronomical objects, they can click on another link that will take them to other webpages such as Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD), and Astropics.  These are updated frequently, so there is always something new to look at.  These are great because I, myself enjoy viewing pretty pictures of nebulae, planets, and other visually pleasing ojbects.  I know APOD also gives a short description of the relevance of the image they post.  I find myself learning cool information on these sites I didn’t know beforehand. 

Podcasts:  Another access to information in the astro science world are Teach Astronomy’s links to podcasts from “365 Days of Astronomy.”  The site gives the description: 365 Days of Astronomy has been publishing one podcast per day since January 1st 2009. The podcasts are created by many astronomers all over the world. 

 

Other aspects of the site that are useful for navigation and understanding are:

The Browsing Tool:  This tool is mainly connected to the Wiki Articles that provide additional information on many topics mentioned in the textbooks.  When you search something, the search results are displayed in one of two different ways.   First, there  is a “Wikimap” that displays in the center the article of most relevance to the search.  The articles connected around it, are also relevant, but may be sub-topics of the item that was searched.  The user then chooses which article they want to read, and they are directed to the Wikipedia article of choice.  Many of the screenshots above display this “Wikimap” style of user interface.  For those who do not favor this display, they can switch to a regular text view much like a Google search. 

The Glossary:  This is one of the most useful tabs on the site because it explains hundreds of astronomical terms described in the textbook and many of the other resources.  What’s nice is that whoever reads the textbook is not forced to visit the actual glossary page if they do not understand a word.  If the word in the text is the color red, they can hover their pointer over the word, and a definition pops up, explaining the meaning. 

The News Updates:  Part of understanding astronomy, is knowing what’s new in the astronomical world today.  There is a link in the bar that navigates the student to an rss reed of ten to thirty of the most recent news articles from sciencedaily.com. 

Forums for Educators:  This is a very useful took for teachers and for the developers of Teach Astronomy.  To participate in the discussion forum, teachers can sign up and talk to other teachers about how they use the site as well as how the site can be improved.  There are links provided for instructors to give feedback as well as bug reports.  The delevelopers of Teach Astronomy are always looking for ways to improve the site so it can continue to provide tools for learning for days to come. 

For People Who Cannot Hear this is a great way to access information because the majority of the content can not only be heard, but can also be read.  The videos are accessible through YouTube, and the subject is written in the description box below the video.  For those who can read lips can also understand what Chrisy Impey is saying, because the video shows him speaking.  The podcasts are also written out so no one who can’t hear misses out on those either.  I am wondering how those without site can learn from Teach Astronomy…  Perhaps I can submit a suggestion to Carmen and the others to see if there is a way they can make it accessible to the blind as well.  

Keeping Track of Stats:  To keep track of how many people use the site, the team uses Google Analytics. With this tool, they can keep tabs on the site usage, even live where they can see in real time how the site is being used and which links are the most popular.  Stats are kept on how many visits the site gets per week, the location of the users of the sites, like what cities it is most popular in.  Also, it can keep track of links to Teach Astronomy from other websites, to see where the traffic comes from the most. 

The Future of Teach Astronomy:  Chris Impey, the founder, has exciting plans for Teach Astronomy.  He is actually instructing an online class through udemy.com, a site for online classes, where thousands of people register for online classes to learn any subject of choice.  There are currently four hundred and twenty one people signed up to take this course which will be supplemented by Teach Astronomy.  This is the first time the team has ever tried to teach a full online course, so they are excited to learn from this experience and welcome any feedback from their students.  I have looked up the class and here is the link:  https://www.udemy.com/astronomy-state-of-the-art/ .  Many of the courses available on udemy.com cost money, but as always, the team has made their course free and available to anyone who wants to learn.  

Conclusion:  Thank you to Carmen Austin for giving me so much awesome information on Teach Astronomy.  I think making astronomy accessible to anyone is truly amazing.  They have great ideas and lots of content that can provide valuable information to those who seek it.  I plan on exploring the site myself and giving a review on it in my next blog post within a week or so, so stay tuned! 

Online Learning is Trending

As my first post on this blog, I would like to identify that my vehicle of presenting research (WordPress) is also assisting in the advancement of education through technology.  If you click here you will be directed toward an article that discusses how teachers, ranging from the elementary school level to collegiate level, utilize the internet as a teaching method as well as a mode of communication with the students and parents.  I believe this is a great way to integrate technology into the lives of students, which will prepare them for an ever-increasing “tech world.”  Even though this mode of teaching isn’t “interactive,” it can still provide motivation for the learner because it allows Autonomy.  Blogs are customizable, so the learner has a choice of how to decorate their blog, and present information.  It’s completely personal, which is difficult to find in any old internet-based learning device.  Also, this site is not necessarily “meant” for education, and that’s what may make it more fun for the student.  The site is not bombarded with the dullness of instruction, as some websites are, so the user actually completes and assignment and learns something without “feeling like it.”  I’m excited to see how my research turns out, and perhaps it will affect the way I view my own learning experience.